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| Season | Pokémon: Battle Frontier (Season 9) · Farewells: Terracotta Town & Pallet Town arc (AG191–AG192) |
| Episode | Season 9, episode 47 · English episode 464 · Japanese episode 468 · Bulbapedia code AG192 |
| English title | Home is Where the Start Is! |
| Japanese title | 旅の終わり、そして旅の始まり！ Tabi no Owari, Soshite Tabi no Hajimari! — “End of a Journey, and Then the Start of a Journey!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 14 September 2006 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 3 March 2007 · Cartoon Network |
| Screenplay | Hideki Sonoda |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Supāto! (Spurt!) – Satoshi (Rica Matsumoto) · Watashi, Makenai! ~Haruka no Tēma~ (I Won’t Lose! ~Haruka’s Theme~) – Haruka (KAORI.) |
| English opening | Battle Frontier – Jason Appleton |
| Previous episode | Once More With Reeling! (AG191) |
Plot episodeSeason & Ruby and Sapphire finaleGary’s Electivire
Home is Where the Start Is! is the 47th episode of Pokémon: Battle Frontier, the ninth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 464th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 468, Bulbapedia code AG192). It first aired in Japan on 14 September 2006 and in the United States on 3 March 2007. It falls within the season’s Farewells: Terracotta Town & Pallet Town stretch (EP191–EP192).
The season finale aired on 3 March 2007; Diamond and Pearl followed on Cartoon Network with a three-episode “TV movie” on 20 April 2007.
Synopsis
When the smoke clears at the Terracotta Contest, the scoreboard shows that Ash and May have finished in a dead heat. With only one prize to award, Nurse Joy hands it over and Sceptile slices it neatly in half with Leaf Blade, so that each of them goes home with a share, and the two rivals shake hands as the crowd cheers. That evening, over a farewell dinner, May announces that she is going to travel to Johto on her own to compete in Contests against Drew, Harley and Solidad. That means Max must go home to Petalburg City, and he storms off upset. Ash follows him with Pikachu and finds him on a swing, where Max admits he just wants to grow up quickly and become a Trainer. Ash promises they will have a battle when that day comes, and Max cheers up. A ship’s horn warns that the boat leaves in five minutes, and they race to the harbour just in time for May and Max to wave goodbye as the ship sails away.
The next morning, Ash and Brock part at a crossroads, Brock heading for Pewter City and Ash running for Pallet Town on an empty stomach. Above them, Team Rocket are wondering whether they will ever succeed when they spot something sparking with electricity, which turns out not to be Pikachu but an Electivire eating an apple. Meowth nets it, and as Ash and Pikachu run to help, Gary appears on a ridge and orders his Electivire to break free with Iron Tail and blast the trio away with Thunder Punch. Ash’s Pokédex has no data on it: Gary explains that he caught it in the Sinnoh region, where it is a new discovery, and he refuses Ash’s request for a battle. At home, Ash finds the house empty, and at Professor Oak’s lab Tracey and Mimey jump out with party poppers while Oak, Gary and Delia arrive for a surprise welcome-home party.
Ash proudly shows his mother the plaque bearing all seven Frontier Symbols, then challenges Gary again, and this time Gary accepts. Pikachu and Electivire trade Thunderbolts and Iron Tails, Electivire springs out of the way on its tails, blocks Volt Tackle with Protect and knocks Pikachu out with Thunder Punch. Gary warns Ash not to rest on his Battle Frontier success and leaves for Sinnoh without looking back, and Ash decides at once to follow. That night Delia sews him new clothes. In the morning he leaves Sceptile, Donphan, Corphish, Swellow and Aipom at the lab, and Oak gives him an updated Pokédex and tells him to visit Professor Rowan in Sandgem Town. On the boat to Sinnoh, a gust blows Ash’s hat away and a familiar tail catches it: Aipom has stowed away, and Ash happily welcomes her onto his new team, while Team Rocket, clinging to the side of the ship, are washed off by a wave.
Major Events
- Season and Ruby and Sapphire finale. Ash and May tie and split the prize
- May leaves for Johto, Max goes home and Brock returns to Pewter City
- Gary’s Electivire beats Pikachu
- Ash leaves his team at Professor Oak’s lab and sails for Sinnoh, with Aipom as a stowaway
- Electivire’s debut
- Max’s last speaking appearance
- The last episode at 24 frames per second until SM001
Pokémon making their anime debut
Electivire#0466 · AG192
Trivia
- The English title plays on "home is where the heart is".
- The screenplay is by Hideki Sonoda.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Kanto storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- Three seconds added to the closing Next time card
- James’s line about Giovanni seeing the new Pokémon changed
- Ash calls Sinnoh an “island”
- “A Small Thing”, “Face Forward Team Rocket!” and a 2001 cut of Aim to Be a Pokémon Master, all replaced in the dub, whose music Dogasu called “absolutely atrocious”
Part of our Pokémon: Battle Frontier guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.